About This Course

The FdA Illustration programme gives students the opportunity to be individual, innovative and questioning.

The course has breadth embracing a wide range of approaches and media and working within a range of contexts such as editorial illustration or sequential narrative.  Media includes screenprinting, etching and relief printmaking, animation, digital technology, mixed media, 3D, photography, ceramics as well as a big dose of drawing.  All this is underpinned by contextual studies and professional development.  Students take part in a number of outreach projects in the wider community, completed placements in London and Brighton, exhibited in local galleries and produced artwork for an ever more lively local arts and retail community.

Take another look at the blog to find out more about work experience opportunities.

BA Graduate Show

The BA Exhibition will be shown at Grand Parade  in Brighton from the 1st June - 12th June.

After intensive creative and critical study, over 500 final year students will show their work at the annual University of Brighton Faculty of Arts Graduate Show this Summer.

The event marks the beginning of an exciting future for this year’s graduates many of whom will emerge as leading lights in their chosen discipline.

The show offers visitors the opportunity to seek out, purchase and commission work from those destined to follow in the footsteps of alumni such as fashion designer Julien Macdonald OBE or Turner Prize winners Keith Tyson and Rachel Whiteread.

The show, which is free and open to the public, features exhibits in architecture, fine art, design, film and performance at the university’s city centre Grand Parade and Pavilion Parade buildings. 

The students have been involved in all aspects of creating the show, from hanging and organising building exhibition spaces, to designing the graphics. This year’s advertising campaign for the show features fonts and graphics designed by final year students Lottie Markworth and Barney Stepney.

Architecture and Interior Architecture students will again be building an exhibition pavilion in the faculty's quadrangle to showcase their design projects sharing the location with the Brighton ‘Waste House’ project.

To get a sneak peek and to get involved by sharing your views follow us on twitter@artsbrighton using the #gradshow13.

Richard Cobbold

Richard Cobbold has just completed his MA in Sequential Illustration at the University of Brighton. For his final show he produced a graphic novel which as you can see from the examples above contained some pretty stunning illustration. Richard teaches at college but he has also worked commercially for some impressive clients. His angle is refreshingly straightforward and brimming with impressive technical competence. Magic. 

Richard will be working with yr 1 on Wednesday and will be delivering a talk about his work early morning to both yr 1 and yr 2.

FdA Illustration Students and The Emma Mason Gallery

The Emma Mason Gallery in Eastbourne specializes in the sale of British prints.  Current year one students and one graduate of the FdA Illustration course submitted prints to the Gallery on the theme of 'The Visit'.

Four students were successful and the work of Nina Somers, Lianne Cheal, Keith Hau and Rowena O'Reilly were successful and are now showing their work at the gallery. Emma Mason said: ”I think the partnership has worked remarkably well. Initially, we agreed to select work from only three students, however the standard was much higher than expected and made it hard to choose.”

Student Nina Sommers said: “This has been a fantastic learning experience. Now that I understand the process involved in submitting artwork to a gallery, I feel far more confident about getting my work out there.”

The work shown here is that of Rowena O'Reilly who completed the fdA Illustration course in 2012 and has just graduated from the BA top-up. Her work has been further used to advertise the Food and Wine Festival happening in Hastings in September 2013.

Made in Hastings Show

Year 2 students have just completed showing and selling their work in 'Made in Hastings' in the Old Town.  It's been a big success, firstly because it looked eye catching and distinct and, secondly, quite a number of students sold their work.  Alessandra Chambers, Ami Freed, Mathew Coltman and Heather McCarthy have all been asked to continue to sell work in the shop and year 1 are invited to put on an exhibition of their work next year.

A view from outside of Alessandra's printed T-shirt and Josh's cardboard clock.

Sarah Malleady screen-printed a unashamedly decorative design based on peacocks and inspired by delftware.  Josh Ross's cardboard box is sitting on the top of Sarah's scarf.  His brown box turns inside out to make a clock. Simple, cheap and innovative.

Becky Draper made tiny paper butterfly earrings packaged in simple round tins.

Pippa Hunt produced some intricate embroidery, re-produced five times as the brief asked. They're intentionally sweet so as to contrast with the punchy words.

This week's lecture at Grand Parade is.....

The L5 & L6 Professional Practice lecture on Thursday 14th March, will be by illustrator and ceramics artist Laura Carlin. 

11.00am Sallis Benney Theatre

As a commercial illustrator, Laura's work has featured in publications such as Vogue, The New Scientist, The Guardian, The Observer, The Sunday Telegraph and The Independent. 

Whilst studying for her Masters at the Royal College of Art, Laura won several awards including the Quentin Blake Award two years running, and the 2004 National Magazine Award. She also received the Uniqlo Fashion Illustration Award in both 2003 and 2004, which enabled her to travel to Shanghai and Tokyo. The drawings from her Tokyo trip were published in 2004 in a book entitled ‘Ten Days in Tokyo’. 

She has gone on to illustrate The Iron Man by Ted Hughes and was voted one of ADC Young Guns’ 50 most influential creatives under the age of 30.

Laura primarily works in her sketchbook, both on location and at her studio. A prolific drawer and painter, she has learnt to appreciate mistakes and understand the power of white space. Laura currently works in an advisory role with the development of Quentin Blake’s House of Illustration. 

http://www.heartagency.com/artist/LauraCarlin/gallery/1

http://lauracarlin.blogspot.co.uk/

http://www.ideastap.com/ideasmag/the-knowledge/laura-carlin-interview

Advice to all those moving on to the top-up or BA

The vast majority of FdA Illustration progress to the one year BA Top-up delivered at SCCH.

The following is advice to all those second years who are in the midst of interviews for the top-up or BA. It's generously given by Hannah Cousins who last year completed the top-up year at Camberwell after gaining a Distinction for the FdA.

FdA to BA. Advice for interviews and moving on to a top-up course...

Be interested in something

Have something to say or a story to tell. In your final year you will be expected to write your own briefs so you need to find a topic that interests you (eg. A book, a theory, a social movement) firstly, in order to provide a starting point to develop ideas from and secondly, so that your chosen subject can hold your attention through the duration of the project.

Be relevant

Cultural context is important and you should consider how an audience will respond to your work in light of current affairs. Keep up to date with anything connected to your projects- political affairs, world news, book launches or trends in social media, you'll find that your work can be much more provocative and thus more interesting to prospective tutors.

Read

Get a head-start on your dissertation research over the summer and get to know philosophers key theories, political movements and the historical context. You will need to demonstrate an intellectual understanding of the development of particular ideas and what this means in relation to your research.

Work hard

Moving on can be unsettling and you don't have long to adjust. If you want to do well then my advice is to focus on your work and to be proactive in finding out how to get what/where you need to (for example, if you are studying somewhere new you may need to be inducted to use printmaking facilities or find out how to obtain a computer log-in to do printing or photocopying). There are a lot more students in a BA year group (my year had almost 80 students) and you will get much less attention and advise than during your time on the FdA so be prepared to ask for help, rather than being offered it.

Rest up

Use your summer break to refuel and prepare yourself for the year ahead. When you finish your final year you may want to keep momentum going after the degree shows so this is your last chance for some proper 'R&R'.

Nurture you craft

Being the same as everyone else is no way to survive. So do what you do, be yourself, trust your instincts and guard your craft carefully.